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Buddha and Barbie

While starting to write, I just had a look at the artifact of Buddha and a doll lying on a shelf in the drawing room. Suddenly certain thoughts spurted my mind. What will go in the mind of Buddha while looking at a kid of the modern world who likes to watch Barbie and cartoons, loves pizzas and burgers, travels by airplane, goes to airconditioner schools, has customized rooms, gets the best of the books of read, has choices for the country in which she is going to celebrate vacations. Similarly, what thoughts would such a child have about Buddha, especially when she gets to know that Buddha was a prince and his parents wanted to give him all types of comforts, and yet Buddha was more inclined to see the reality of the world? His attention was drawn towards the sorrow of death, old age, and diseases and despite the best efforts of his parents, all the comforts of the world could not confine him.

What makes a person so engrossed with the material world? What creates a keenness in some of us to know the truth? I do not know. But we have the example of both Buddha and Barby in this world. I feel that humanity in the last few hundred years has been on a mission to reduce pain and discomfort by inventing so many means of comfort such as air conditioners, cars, airplanes, home appliances, medical equipment, and so many more things. Every day there is one or more inventions to make human life more comfortable. But the parents of Buddha already provided him all the comforts under the Sun and yet he had a great urge to know the truth. He was not interested in anything that was temporary. The same thing happened to Nachiketa when Yama offered him all types of temptations in the material world and he asked Yama whether any of these things were permanent. When Yama said that all these things have an expiry date, he simply said no to all these things and insisted on knowing the truth.

Buddha also insisted on knowing the truth. He did not want to waste his precious life running after a falsity or mirage. He could see that old age, diseases, and death are a reality and no human being can escape them. He could also see the temporariness of all the pleasures of the material world and therefore wanted to know the truth beyond them. Why do we come to this world and where do we go? What is the purpose of this life? His keenness to get all these answers made him explore different things and finally, he got the answers. Post realization, he did not want to leave, rather he shared whatever answers he got with everybody around so that any and everybody who has any interest in knowing the reality can get to know that. The most surprising thing is that Buddha devoted his entire life to knowing the truth and having realized that when he disseminates his wisdom for free, they just discard that. It is a post-retirement thing. Not for me. Even after post-retirement, they want to stay young. Have fun and parties till they are confined to a small bed in the ICU where they can have millions of regrets or unfulfilled desires and pass away.

I really do not know what made Buddha leave his kingdom and go to the forest when he was of the age of Barbie. I also do not know what makes people remain so engrossed in the matter even when they are about to die. From a distance, when I look at society, and myself, it appears that we all are addicted. Addicted to the shine and gleam. Addicted to the comforts and pleasures, fun and entertainment, possession and accumulation. It appears that all of us are so insecure that we just want to hold on to the falsity in one or the other form. The only difference is that some accept that they are addicted and try to come out of that while most people are in denial mode. They do not want to accept that they are addicted. It is difficult to get rid of addiction even after trying hard for the same and a question simply does not arise to get rid of addiction if the addicted does not want to get rid of the same. Therefore, Buddha and Barbie will be happy in their own worlds till Barbie faces the situations that shake her foundations of life or becomes wise enough to see the side effects of her addiction. 

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